Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he didn’t expect Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari to be so quick so soon, and that their Malaysian Grand Prix victory on Sunday took him by surprise.

Toro Rosso’s rookie Max Verstappen finished seventh in Malaysia, setting a new record as the youngest F1 points scorer – one that looks likely to stand for all time given that the superlicence age will be set at 18 next year.

Niki Lauda made no excuses as he said that Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel simply did a better job than Mercedes to win the Malaysian Grand Prix – and quipped that the German, who won four world titles with Red Bull, is "not boring any more!"